Current demand based switching Performance state (P-state) algorithms (e.g., such as provided on Linux platforms) are generally based on a system load metric that is evaluated periodically (for example, every 10 to 50 milliseconds) and modified by some step size. The effect of this approach is that for most cases the ramp up to full speed (from idle) may be relatively slow and performance critical tasks may run at a lower P-state than they should for 10 milliseconds or longer. Accordingly, the performance hit caused by the ramp up delay is absorbed by the user or application.